Clergy Coalition holds first meeting

Tuesday

Nearly a dozen local Christian ministers put aside doctrinal differences Tuesday morning and came together for the first meeting of the newly conceived Neosho Clergy Coalition.

The coalition is the offspring of a merger between what was, until recently, the divergent Neosho Christian Ministerial Alliance and the Neosho Ministerial Alliance.

Though similar in title, the two organizations disagreed on certain points of Christian dogma, sparring in particular over the issue of homosexuality.

Meeting under one banner Tuesday at the Freeman Family YMCA, ministers agreed to avoid doctrinal issues in the new organization and concentrate instead on serving the community through various charity work and spiritual leadership.

“Finding a way to be united is critical,” stated Benny Boling, interim pastor of Neosho First Christian Church. “We’re going to fall into the same pit as before if we don’t find a way to work together. That’s why we need to focus on ministries, not doctrine.”

The first order of business during the informal business portion of the meeting had to do with organizational needs. Rev. Dr. William Doubek, First Lutheran Church, told the group he didn’t think fronting officers, especially a president, was a good idea, citing early church examples of divisions caused by imagined self-importance.

But others, specifically Neosho United Methodist pastor Rev. Gene Cole, argued the coalition needed someone to coordinate meetings and events, contact the media, and generally be a go-to person.

“There needs to be a leader for every group,” Cole said. “There doesn’t have to be a president, just some central person to contact instead of Jo Blo or Susie Blo. But we’re all equals here as far as I’m concerned.”

Boling volunteered to serves as coalition “coordinator” and was accepted by general consensus.

The group also discussed some of the various charities and causes it supports, including the Crosslines homeless shelter, the Help Center, the Newton County Food Basket Brigade, the Shop-With-A-Cop program, the Shoes-For-Kids drive and other community service activities.

It was agreed to donate the entire offering from a Tuesday evening Thanksgiving service to the Food Basket Brigade.

The group also settled that when individuals approach churches in the coalition, asking for food or money, they be directed to the Help Center, on 214 E. Main, one of the organization’s primary charities.

Although there are about 20 churches in what was formerly the two ministerial alliances, only 11 were represented Tuesday.

Ways to include more churches into the fold was briefly discussed. Boling simply suggested inviting one of the other pastors out for a cup of coffee, asking if there was a particular need they could help with, or just sharing a prayer together.

“The key to getting those who are kind of standing off from this (coalition) is to make a friend,” he said.

Later, Patricia Miljan, Full Gospel Church, flanked by two ministers once in the opposite alliance, said she was glad local churches decided to work together again under the same organization.

“The churches have to love one another,” she said. “People are going to watch the churches, and if they see that we can’t even get along how do we expect them to get along?”

Addressing the Neosho Clergy Coalition Tuesday was Neosho High School principal Chuck Blaney and Neosho High School student body president Joe Hunter. The two mostly spoke on a program implemented at the high school called Character First, an informal effort to promote integrity among Neosho students.

Hunter first painted a not-so-pretty picture of what he sees and hears daily in the halls of his school, a world dominated by foul language and violence. He mainly attributed it to negative influences in movies and television.

“(Students) have no idea it’s for entertainment only and not for school,” Hunter said. “But that’s what they try to emulate in their lives. ‘Do it or die’. It’s how they see it. ‘Curse him out or he’s going to beat you up.’ This is their life. And they either turn to drugs or older peers who are not good influences.”

To help combat this, the Character First program promotes a word each month — integrity, self-control, honesty, respect, etc. — for the students to hear and be exposed to. All of the words — nine in all — are hanging in the hallways and teachers are encouraged to use them in the classroom setting as much as possible, Blaney said. He asked the ministers making up the Clergy Coalition simultaneously incorporate the word of the month in their Sunday sermons to further impress the message on the minds of teens. The character word would be e-mailed to the various churches each month.

“You are the spiritual leaders of our community,” Blaney told the group. “If you’re going to change it, it’s going to be through spirituality.”

Blaney’s request was agreed to by general consensus.

WHO WAS THERE?

Churches represented at Tuesday’s first meeting of the Neosho Clergy Coalition were: First Lutheran United Methodist First Christian St. Canara Catholic St. John’s Episcopal Church of the Nazarene (Neosho) Church of the Nazarene (Granby) Gospel Lighthouse Full Gospel Community Chapel Vida Abundante (Spanish church within Abundant Life)

The next meeting of the Neosho Clergy Coalition is set for 10 a.m. Jan. 15 at the Freeman Family YMCA.

Neosho Daily News

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